Cardiff claim they have evidence that Iain Moody, their former head of recruitment who is now Palace’s director of football, contacted at least two of their employees in an attempt to discover the identity of their opponents’ team, and may even have offered them inducements.

Moody denies the allegations, which Palace are thought to view as a deliberate attempt to disrupt preparations for their crucial fixture against Aston Villa today.

Moody was sacked by Cardiff in October and the club have compiled a detailed dossier using phone records of staff which they will allege proves he sought inside information last week.

The Premier League are believed to be investigating Cardiff’s claims. Cardiff have launched an internal inquiry into the affair, and have also sacked a club analyst, understood to be on the grounds of gross misconduct, over an unrelated incident to the alleged leak to Palace.

Club captain Steven Caulker said on Friday that the team had been undermined all season by leaks.

“There have been problems like that all season where certain things have been leaked. For me, it is frustrating. We need to focus on getting things right on the pitch, not what’s going on off the pitch.

“It has obviously come from somewhere. That’s down to the gaffer and the staff above him to sort stuff out, and we can just focus on playing football. Until the Premier League have investigated it, I certainly won’t be pointing any fingers .”

Cardiff expect to take disciplinary action against two of their employees over the events before the Palace game.

Relations between Moody and Cardiff owner Vincent Tan were already fractious because of the antipathy which followed Tan’s sacking of Moody and former Cardiff manager Malky Mackay, who is taking the club to court seeking compensation.

Under Mackay’s successor, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Cardiff have slumped to 19th, six points from Premier League safety. The Norwegian said his players were not under suspicion. “I have seen every one of my players and I don’t doubt anyone’s pride, honesty, loyalty, integrity, professionalism. I have built my life on loyalty and honesty, the values I get from my mum and dad.”

Moody responded to the suggestion he had ‘spied’ on Cardiff by saying: “That is incredibly, extraordinarily untrue. That is untrue, completely untrue.”

Palace won last Saturday’s game 3-0, leaving Cardiff in grave danger of relegation, but Solskjaer said: “I am up for a fight. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the atmosphere. They are a great bunch of lads, and they have picked themselves up from the hurt of what happened last week.”